The circumstances occasioning the writing of the epistle

The apostle writes the second Epistle to the Corinthians under
the influence of the consolations of Christ -- consolations
experienced when the troubles which came upon him in Asia were at
their height; and renewed at the moment when he wrote his letter,
by the good news which Titus had brought him from Corinth --
consolations which (now that he is happy about them) he imparts to
the Corinthians; who, by grace, had been their source in the last
instance.

The first letter had awakened their conscience, and had
re-established the fear of God in their heart, and integrity in
their walk. The sorrowing heart of the apostle was revived by
hearing this good news. The state of the Corinthians had cast him
down and a little removed from his heart the feelings produced by
the consolations with which Jesus filled it during his trials at
Ephesus. How various and complicated are the exercises of him who
serves Christ and cares for souls! The spiritual restoration of the
Corinthians, by dissipating Paul's anguish, had renewed the joy of
these consolations, which the tidings of their misconduct had
interrupted. He afterwards returns to this subject of his
sufferings at Ephesus; and develops, in a remarkable way, the power
of the life by which he lived in Christ.

He addresses all the saints of that country, as well as those
in the city of Corinth, which was its capital; and, being led by
the Holy Ghost to write according to the real sentiments which that
Spirit produced in him, he at once places himself in the midst of
the consolations which flowed into his heart, in order to
acknowledge in them the God who poured them into his tried and
exercised spirit.

The Spirit's work in a human heart

Nothing more touching than the work of the Spirit in the
apostle's heart. The mixture of gratitude and worship towards God,
of joy in the consolations of Christ, and of affection for those on
whose account he now rejoiced, has a beauty entirely inimitable by
the mind of man. Its simplicity and its truth do but enhance the
excellence and exalted character of this divine work in a human
heart. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so
our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is
effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also
suffer; or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and
salvation." Blessing God for the consolations which he had
received, content to suffer, because his participation in suffering
encouraged the faith of the Corinthians who suffered, by showing
them the path ordained of God for the most excellent, he pours into
their hearts the consolation of his own, as soon as comfort comes
to him from God. His first thought (and it is always so with one
who realises his dependence on God, and who abides in his presence
-- see Genesis 24) is to bless God, and to acknowledge Him as the
source of all consolation. The Christ, whom he has found both in
the sufferings and in the consolation, turns his heart immediately
to the beloved members of His body.

Man's perveristy and God's patience; grace concludes that evil
will be corrected

Mark at once the perversity of man's heart and the patience of
God. In the midst of sufferings for the sake of Christ, they could
take part in the sin that dishonoured His name -- a sin unknown
among the Gentiles. In spite of this sin God would not deprive them
of the testimony, which those sufferings gave them, of the truth of
their Christianity -- sufferings which assured the apostle that the
Corinthians would enjoy the consolations of Christ, which
accompanied sufferings for His sake. It is beautiful to see how
grace lays hold of the good, in order to conclude that the evil
will surely be corrected, instead of discrediting the good because
of the evil. Paul was near Christ -- the source of strength.

The power of life in Christ

He continues by presenting, experimentally, the doctrine of the
power of life in Christ,* which had its development and its
strength in death to all that is temporal, to all that links us
with the old creation, to mortal life itself. He then touches upon
almost every subject that had occupied him in the first epistle,
but with an unburdened heart, although with a firmness that desired
their good, and the glory of God, let it cost himself what sorrow
it might.

{*The beginning of this Epistle presents the experimental power
of that which is doctrinally taught in Romans 5: 12 to Rom. 8, and
is extremely instructive in this respect. It is not so much
Colossians and Ephesians; the practical fruit of the doctrine there
is the display of God's own character. However we have in a measure
what is taught in Colossians carried out.}

The effect of the Spirit's work when the conscience is touched

Observe here the admirable connection between the personal
circumstances of God's labourers, and the work to which they are
called, and even the circumstances of that work. The first epistle
had produced that salutary effect on the Corinthians to which the
apostle, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, had destined
it. Their conscience had been awakened, and they had become zealous
against the evil in proportion to the depth of their fall. This is
always the effect of the work of the Spirit, when the conscience of
the Christian who has fallen is really touched. The apostle's heart
can open with joy to their complete and sincere
obedience. Meanwhile he had himself passed through terrible trials,
so that he had despaired of life; and he had been able through
grace to realise the power of that life in Christ which gained the
victory over death, and could pour abundantly into the hearts of
the Corinthians the consolations of that life, which were to raise
them up again. There is a God who conducts all things in the
service of His saints -- the sorrow through which they pass, as all
the rest.

Thanksgiving for God's comfort in suffering, a token of His
favour to be shared with others

Observe, also, that he does not need to begin by reminding the
Corinthians, as he had done in the first epistle, of their calling
and their privileges as sanctified in Christ. He breaks out in
thanksgiving to the God of all consolation. Holiness is brought
forward when it is practically wanting among the saints. If they
are walking in holiness, they enjoy God, and they speak of Him. The
way in which the various parts of the work of God are linked
together, in and by means of the apostle, is seen in the
expressions that flow from his grateful heart. God comforts him in
his sufferings; and the consolation is such that it is suited to
comfort others, in whatsoever affliction it may be; for it is God
Himself who is the consolation, by pouring into the heart His love
and His communion, as it is enjoyed in Christ.

If afflicted, it was for the comfort of others by the sight of
similar afflictions in those who were honoured of God, and the
consciousness of unison in the same blessed cause, and relationship
with God (the heart being touched and brought back to these
affections by this means). If comforted, it was to comfort others
with the consolations that he himself enjoyed in affliction. And
the afflictions of the Corinthians were a testimony to him that,
however great their moral weakness had been, they had part in those
consolations which he enjoyed himself, and which he knew to be so
deep, so real, which he knew to be of God, and a token of His
favour. Precious bonds of grace! And how true it is in our little
measure, that the sufferings of those who labour re-animate on the
one hand love towards them, and on the other re-assure the labourer
as to the sincerity of the objects of his christian affection, by
presenting them anew to him in the love of Christ. The affliction
of the apostle had helped him in writing to the Corinthians with
the grief that was suitable to their condition; but what faith was
that which occupied itself with such energy and such entire
forgetfulness of self about the sad state of others, amid such
circumstances as then surrounded the apostle! His strength was in
Christ.

Paul explains the motives of his movements to demonstrate his
love for the Corinthians

His heart expands towards the Corinthians. We see that his
affections flow freely -- a thing of great value. He reckons on the
interest they will take in the account of his sufferings; he is
sure that they will rejoice in what God has given him, even as he
rejoices in them as the fruit of his labours, and that they will
acknowledge what he is; and he is content to be a debtor to their
prayers with regard to the gifts displayed in himself, so that his
success in the gospel was to them as a personal interest of their
own. He could truly demand their prayers, for his course had been
run in unmingled sincerity, and especially among them. This leads
him to explain to them the motives of his movements, of which he
had not spoken to them before, referring these movements to his own
plans and motives, subject to the Lord. He is always master (under
Christ) of his movements; but he can now speak freely of that which
had decided him, which the Corinthians were not before in a state
to know. He wishes to satisfy them, to explain things to them, so
as to demonstrate his perfect love for them; and, at the same time,
to maintain his entire liberty in Christ, and not make himself
responsible to them for what he did. He was their servant in
affliction, but free to be so, because he was amenable only to
Christ, although he satisfied their conscience (because he served
Christ) if their conscience was upright.

His own conscience however was clear; and he only wrote to them
that which they knew and acknowledged, and, as he trusted, would
acknowledge to the end; so that they should rejoice in him, as he
in them.

The reason Paul had not visited them; their laxity and the
groundwork of Christianity

But had there been any lightness in his decisions, since, as he
now informed them, he had intended to visit them on his way to
Macedonia (where he was at the moment of writing this letter), and
then a second time on his return from that country? In no wise;
they were not intentions lightly formed, according to the flesh,
and then abandoned. It was his affection, it was to spare them. He
could not bear the idea of going with a rod to those whom he
loved. Observe in what manner, although showing his affection and
tenderness, he maintains his authority; and they needed the
exercise of this authority. And while reminding them of his
authority, he displays all his tenderness. They were not Cretans,
perhaps, whom it was necessary to rebuke sharply; but there was a
laxity of. morals which required delicacy and care lest they should
become restive, but also authority and a bridle, lest, in giving
them liberty, they should fall into all sorts of bad ways. But he
turns immediately to the certainty which was in Christ, the basis
of all his own. He would not press too much upon the chord he had
touched at the beginning. He lets his authority be known as that
which might have been exercised, and he does not employ it. The
groundwork of Christianity was needed, in order to put their souls
into a condition to judge themselves healthily. They were quite
disposed, through the intrigues of false teachers and their habit
of schools of philosophy, to separate from the apostle, and, in
spirit, from Christ. He brings them back to the foundation, to the
sure doctrine that was common to all those that had laboured among
them at the beginning. He would give Satan no occasion to detach
them from him (see 2 Cor. 2: 11).

The great principles of Christian joy and assurance
established; simple certainty in Christ

He establishes therefore the great principles of christian joy
and assurance. I do not speak of the blood, the only source of
peace of conscience before God as a judge, but of the manner in
which we are placed by the power of God in His presence, in the
position and state into which that power introduces us according to
the counsels of His grace. Simple certainty was in Christ,
according to that which had been said. It was not first Yea, and
then Nay: the yea remained always yea -- a principle of immense
importance, but for the establishment of which there was needed the
power and the firmness and even perfection, and the wisdom, of God;
for to assure and make stedfast that which was not wise and perfect
would certainly not have been worthy of Him.

It will be seen that the question was, whether Paul had lightly
changed his purpose. He says that he had not; but he leaves the
thought of that which concerned him personally to speak of that
which pre-occupied his thoughts -- of Christ; and to him, in fact,
to live was Christ. But there was a difficulty to solve, when the
immutability of God's promises was the question. It is that we are
not in a state to profit by that which was immutable on account of
our weakness and inconstancy. He solves this difficulty by setting
forth the mighty operations of God in grace.

The immutability of God's promises; their fulfillment in Christ
alone

There are two points therefore: -- the establishment of all the
promises in Christ, and the enjoyment, by us, of the effect of
these promises. The thing is, as we have seen, not merely to say,
to promise, something; but not to change one's intentions, not to
depart from what was said, but to keep one's word. Now there had
been promises. God had made promises, whether to Abraham
unconditionally, or to Israel at Sinai under the condition of
obedience. But in Christ there was, not promises, but the Amen to
God's promises, the verity and realisation of them. Whatever
promises there had been on God's part, the Yea was in Him, and the
Amen in Him. God has established -- deposited, so to speak -- the
fulfilment of all His promises in the Person of Christ. Life,
glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of the Spirit, all is in
Him; it is in Him that all is we -- Yea and Amen. We cannot have
the effect of any promise whatsoever out of Him. But this is not
all: we, believers, are the objects of these counsels of God. They
are to the glory of God by us.

But, in the first place, the glory of God is that of Him
whoever glorifies Himself in His ways of sovereign grace towards
us; for it is in these ways that He unfolds and displays what He
is. The Yea and Amen therefore of the promises of God, the
accomplishment and the realisation of the promises of God, for His
glory by us, are in Christ.

The enjoyment of the promises: in Christ

But how can we participate in it, if all is Christ and in
Christ? It is here that the Holy Ghost presents the second part of
the ways of grace. We are in Christ, and we are in Him not
according to the instability of the will of man, and the weakness
that characterises him in his transitory and changeable works. He
who was firmly established us in Christ is God Himself. The
accomplishment of all the promises is in Him. Under the law, and
under conditions the fulfilment of which depended on the stability
of man, the effect of the promise was never attained; the thing
promised eluded the pursuit of man, because man needed to be in a
state capable of attaining it by righteousness, and he was not in
that state; the accomplishment of the promise therefore was always
suspended; it would have its effect if -- but the "if" was not
accomplished, and the Yea and Amen did not come. But all that God
has promised is in Christ. The second part is the "by us," and how
far we enjoy it. We are firmly established by God in Christ, in
whom all the promises subsist, so that we securely possess in Him
all that is promised us. But we do not enjoy it as that which
subsists in our own hands.

Anointed, sealed, and given the earnest of the Spirit for the
enjoyment of what is in Christ

But, further, God Himself has anointed us. We have by Jesus
received the Holy Ghost. God has taken care that we should
understand by the Spirit that which is freely given us in
Christ. But the Spirit is given to us, according to the counsels of
God, for other things than understanding merely His gifts in
Christ. He who has received Him is sealed. God has marked him with
His seal, even as He marked Christ with His seal when He anointed
Him after His baptism by John. Moreover the Spirit becomes the
earnest, in our own hearts, of that which we shall fully possess
hereafter in Christ. We understand the things that are given us in
the glory; we are marked by the seal of God to enjoy them; we have
the earnest of them in our hearts -- our affections are engaged by
them. Established in Christ, we have the Holy Ghost, who seals us
when we believe, to bring us into the enjoyment, even while here
below, of that which is in Christ.